KJ's Galaxy - Week 4

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Rand DADA

WAYS OF SEEING - JOHN BERGER

The Depiction of Gender in Art
- "One might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves."
- Berger discusses the difference between being naked in art vs being in the nude. Being nude comes off as being surveyed or objectified by the audience or surveyors while being naked is a more natural thing, not constructed for others to watch or ogle at. He also points out that women are often depicted in the nude in art, for the entertainment of men and are aware of being looked at, affecting how they may view themselves. This is seen today in social media as people, more specifically women care about how they appear on their accounts and how others perceive them.
- I found the section about Mary Magdalene's portrayal interesting because in one depiction the artist strips away her spirituality by portraying her in the nude. However, one picture depicts her in a more divine or royal-like demeanor. Both paintings focus on different parts of her character, one showing her as a prostitute and the other showing her as a saint.
- "She is painted as being, before she is anything else, a takeable and desirable woman. She is still the compliant object of the painting-method's seduction."
The Depiction of Income Status in Art
- "The gaze of the ambassadors is both aloof and wary. They expect no reciprocity. They wish the image of their presence to impress others with their vigilance and their distance. The presence of kings and emperors had once impressed in a similar way, but their images had been comparatively impersonal. What is new and disconcerting here is the individualized presence which needs to suggest distance. Individualism finally posits equality. Yet equality must be made inconceivable."
- "Pictures of the poor inside the house, however, are reassuring. Here the painted poor smile as they offer what they have for sale. (They smile showing their teeth, which the rich in pictures never do.) They smile at the better-off - to ingratiate themselves, but also at the prospect of a sale or a job. Such pictures assert two things: that the poor are happy, and that the better off are a source of hope for the world."
- The differences in social class are painfully obvious as painting with lower income paintings appear smugded or made with cheaper oils while higher class paintings have more clean brushstrokes and vivid colors. However, despite the low quality materials and techinques, the people with low-income paintings depict a carefree and candid life, probably as a way to show how lower-income communities have more freedom. On the other hand, the people of high quality paintings are limited to a manfactured pose, emphasizing their power, control, status according to the social expectations at the time.